Interior design isn’t just about the couches you choose for your living room or the color you paint your kitchen walls. Rather, it’s about creating a cohesive space that not only exhibits your personal style but also meets (and exceeds) your expectations of functionality and comfort.
Whether you’re just dipping your toes into the world of design or are an expert in your own right, inspiration often begins with understanding the purpose behind the practice. So, let’s dive deeper into interior design, why it’s important, and how to use it to enhance the way you live in your home. Then, you can begin (or continue) crafting spaces that truly reflect who you are.
How Interior Design Shapes Everyday Life
We all know that when you get past the gorgeous spreads in the latest issue of Domino or House Beautiful and start engaging with your own interiors, you need more than chic furniture or a pristine color scheme. Instead, you need a space that fits your life and frames everything that happens within it. The same goes for storefronts, libraries, office buildings, and healthcare facilities. They all have to blend form and function to design a comfortable, usable space that doesn’t just check the boxes but creates an area where occupants can meet life’s hurdles with fortitude.
Great interior design is a little like magic. It makes people feel comfortable enough to be who they are and fulfill their purpose, whether they’re cooking breakfast for their family at home or giving a game-changing presentation at work. Interior design also ensures that each space is finished with materials that are durable enough to stand up to actual use. Further, it works to meet all applicable building codes, create adequate (and flattering) interior lighting, and balance empty space. The best part? This is only the tip of the iceberg – there are countless more ways to wield the power of design to influence the world around you.
Setting an Attitude for a Space’s Occupants
In many ways, we live up to the space we’re in. Our attitude is shaped – at least a little – by the aesthetics of our surroundings, whether we’re stepping into a bright casino, reading in a cozy library, or enjoying the high-end furniture in our own living room.
Marketers and advertising experts know that interior design (and color schemes, in particular) can make a huge impact on a customer’s mood, creativity, and willingness to make a purchase. Similarly, designers understand that the right color scheme can give an interior that indefinable quality – the attitude, personality, or whatever else you want to call it – that makes a space feel like home.
For some people, home is the hub of creativity and inspiration. For others, it’s a quiet haven to return to after a long day. No matter what it may be for you, thoughtful interior design can project that feeling into your space.
The Importance of Color
The right color scheme can make or break a space. We’ve all been in rooms that felt so safely neutral that the only thing they inspired was a compulsion to splash paint on something. On the other hand, we’ve also experienced spaces so filled to the brim with color and visual noise that our eyes had no idea where to rest. With this in mind, it’s essential to find the right balance.
No matter what attitude you want your space to have, the color scheme you choose makes all the difference. Minute variances in the colors and finishes of your selections can change your vision in dramatic ways, especially when different light sources come into play. Therefore, you should always order color and surface samples for your luxury furniture and decor whenever possible. The hues and textures of your furniture must complement your space’s particular mood and personality, and you shouldn’t have to guess about that when you place an order for a custom piece.
Using Design to Make Your Home a Sanctuary
Your home’s interior spaces should look and feel like they’re yours – not Domino’s, House Beautiful’s, or that trendy Instagrammer’s. It needs to be filled with the things that mean the most to you, so consider this permission to take a hard pass on anything else. Your interiors should also light you up, make you smile, and soothe your soul when you’re world-weary. Luxury interior design or not, you deserve to come home to a space that feels entirely intended for you.
We’re big believers in taking small touches of luxury and injecting them purposely into your space and life. Not every living space is destined for luxury interior design and high-end furniture. However, every room in your home can and should benefit from the care and deliberate attention it takes to craft an atmosphere that becomes the sanctuary you need.